(Clearwisdom.net) Note: The following is a shortened version of a longer and more detailed article that appeared on the minghui.ca website (Chinese version of Clearwisdom.net).

Officials from Taojiang County 610 Office and from the police department in Yiyang City, Hunan Province have persecuted Dafa practitioners over the past several years by harassing them, extorting money from them, ransacking their homes, torturing them and sending them to prisons and labor camps.

Mr. Cao Gongxun went home to take care of his father's funeral on January 28, 2002. Officials from the Wutang Town Police Station in Taojiang County illegally arrested Cao Gongxun and took him to Taojiang County Detention Center. He was eventually sentenced to two years of forced labor. A few days before his arrest, practitioners Mr. Xiong Biqing and Mr. Xia Wennan were arrested and their homes were ransacked. They were later sent to the Xinkaipu Labor Camp in Changsha City.

During his six months at the Detention Center, Cao Gongxun defied commands from the lawless officials who failed to send him to a labor camp. Due to the power of his righteous thoughts they had no choice but to release him, but not until they had extorted several thousand Yuan from his family.

According to a relative of a practitioner in his 70s, officials from the Santang Town Police Station in Taojiang County harassed all Dafa practitioners in the area a little while ago. It has been confirmed practitioner Zhao Zhidong and his wife from Jiufeng Village, Santang Town were arrested. Zhao Zhidong was released after being tortured to the point of a nervous breakdown. His wife Xia Xiankai is still being held at Taojiang County Detention Center.